The event was also marked by the strong presence of the United Nations family,
represented at the highest level. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon took
part in many of the week’s activities, along with the Director-General of the UN Office
at Geneva Sergei Ordzhonikidze; International Maritime Organization Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos; World Intellectual Property Organization Director-General Francis Gurry; World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Michel
Jarraud; and Universal Postal Union Director General Edouard Dayan.

Ban Ki-moon describes the challenge

A round table debate by Heads of State and Government and chief executive officers of major ICT companies noted that every crisis brings with it fresh opportunities
— and the current economic crisis is no different. Their discussion covered many of
the key issues of our time — the global economy, the digital divide, and cybersecurity
— but the main focus was on climate change. The session was moderated by
ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Touré, who began by welcoming United Nations Secretary-General.

Mr Ban commended the government leaders for their strong commitment to connecting
the world. He also stressed the great potential influence of the private sector.
“It is the business leaders who can invest their resources and make technological innovations
happen,” Mr Ban stated. He said that while all the issues to be discussed by the round-table meeting are important, he wanted
to focus on how the power of ICT could be used in
addressing climate change.

“I know that
the ICT industry itself
is part of the problem,
causing 2 to 3 per cent
of greenhouse-gas
emissions. But at the
same time, by using
ICT as tools, you can
reduce at least 15 per
cent of greenhousegas
emissions in other
sectors.”

“Amidst these multiple crises, this
is a very pressing issue. And you are
the leaders who have the tools in
your hands. I urge you to use your
wisdom and your policy priorities to
bring ICT tools to help mitigate climate
change,” Mr Ban told the meeting.
“I know that the ICT industry itself
is part of the problem, causing
2 to 3 per cent of greenhouse-gas
emissions. But at the same time, by
using ICT as tools, you can reduce at
least 15 per cent of greenhouse-gas
emissions in other sectors,” Mr Ban
observed. He called on the leaders
to provide answers and solutions rather
than problems. “This is the main purpose of our
meeting,” he said.

Mr Ban then recalled the one-day summit on
climate change that he had convened in New
York on 22 September 2009, and which was attended
by 101 Heads of State and Government. “I
have been working, directly or indirectly, with the
United Nations for more than 30 years. And now, as
Secretary-General, I have seen only one case when
more than 100 Heads of State have gathered at one
time, at one place,” said Mr Ban. He
added that the richest nations had sat
down together with the most vulnerable
countries, not only sharing views
and experience, but also demonstrating
their political leadership and
commitment.

Mr Ban went on to stress that
even though the world is going
through an economic crisis, it has
resources to tackle climate change.
“We were able to mobilize between
USD 5 trillion to 6 trillion at the
London meeting of the G20 countries
in stimulus packages, coordinated internationally.
The United States alone
has mobilized more than USD 1.5 trillion, China, USD
600 billion, and most European countries, more than
USD 1 trillion. So we have financial resources and
technological capacity. What is largely lacking is the
political will,” Mr Ban noted.

He called on political leaders and industry CEOs to
demonstrate their leadership on the issue of climate change. Science has provided
irrefutable evidence
that climate change is
happening much faster
than we expected, he
said. “Now, it is in the
hands of business and
political leaders to address
these facts,” Mr Ban
said. “You have the choice,” he told participants, as
he urged all leaders to look at “climate change as a
global issue, requiring global leadership and global
priorities”.

Alternative
energy supplies are
crucial. Around the
world, an estimated
1.6 billion people live
without access to
electricity. An additional
1 billion people live in
areas with unreliable
power supplies.

In the ensuing discussion, the round table meeting
was unanimous in recognizing the role of ICT as
a key tool in helping to mitigate and adapt to the
effects of climate change. Solar power and other
sources of renewable energy were seen by many participants
as a part of the solution. But it was also
clear that it would take a concerted global effort to
make such technologies viable and sustainable.

Alternative power

Sierra-Leone’s Vice-President Alhaji Samuel
Sam-Sumana commented that “as a small country
in Africa, and as a continent, we are facing the issue
of climate change which was not of our making…
In a small global village, we share the same
problems. We should share the same benefits. We
should all work together towards the enhancement
of humanity, in order to share the good tidings of
this Universe.” He called for mechanisms to be put
in place to curb deforestation and for ICT to be used
to promote accountability and transparency in governance.
He stressed that Africa is willing to cooperate
in these efforts, especially through partnerships
with the private sector. “We should also make use of alternative energy, such as hydro-electric, windmills
and solar, to reduce effects on the environment,” Mr
Sam-Sumana stated.

Alternative energy supplies are crucial. Around
the world, an estimated 1.6 billion people live without
access to electricity. An additional 1 billion people
live in areas with unreliable power supplies. In
order to expand ICT into areas without regular electricity
supplies, mobile networks, for example, have
primarily used diesel generators for power. Although
oil prices have dropped a little, the continuing cost
of diesel fuel to power generators across many networks’
base stations is still eating away at profit margins
— and polluting the environment.

Robert G. Conway, CEO and Member of the
Board of the GSM Association (GSMA) said that in
the mobile industry which he represents, “energy is
obviously one of the key elements powering our ability
to reach out and connect people”. But at the same
time “we need to reduce that energy consumption,
and as part of connecting people, we need to connect
those who are off the electrical grid”. As mobile
network infrastructure is built in increasingly inaccessible
regions, operators need a viable alternative to
diesel. Mr Conway outlined
GSMA’s “Green Power
for Mobile” programme,
which has set the goal of
helping the industry use
renewable energy sources
for new and existing
off-grid base stations in
developing countries.

“ As much as
we want to think green,
the reality is that people
need incentives. One of
the greatest incentives
is cost. ”

Mr Conway shared another
vision with the participants on how individuals
can control their energy consumption. The mobile
phone, for example, should empower consumers to monitor and lower their power consumption in real
time, using smart meters and embedded sensors in
other machines in their homes and offices. “Imagine
a future in which we have a phone in our home, and
devices which have chips in them. These radio chips
would be connected to the phone and this would tell
you the amount of consumption in your own home.
As you switch down the lights, you see the reduction
of energy consumption and the cost saved, “he said.
“As much as we want to think green, the reality is
that people need incentives. One of the greatest incentives
is cost,” he added. If people can see immediately
how much money they save by reducing energy
use, that will make a difference. “That vision is possible
and achievable, and with broadband and mobile
broadband, it becomes a reality,” said Mr Conway.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Group CEO of
Bharti Enterprises, India, said that India is beginning
to bridge the digital divide which was “staring them
in the face” only a few years ago. “We are now connecting
10 to 12 million people every month, with
more than half of them in rural areas and this growth
is set to continue,” Mr Mittal told participants. He also
underlined that this growth is putting severe strains
on energy resources. India has 450 million mobile phone subscribers and is looking to reach 1 billion in
the next four to five years. “We need to look at leading-edge technologies. We have to make sure these
networks are powered through technologies that will
not harm our environment. We are building towers
where there is no electricity and using generators,”
Mr Mittal explained. And, he added, “we believe that
through ITU, policy-makers and Heads of State, we
can together find ways and means of using technologies
that are outside our industries and available to
us. The problem is that countries that have money
have no sun, and those with sun have no money.
So we need to combine solar energy with technologies
and money from the developed world.” Despite
these challenges, “we as an industry will deliver on
the United Nations Millennium Development Goals
by 2012,” concluded Mr Mittal.

Indian telecommunication equipment manufacturer
Vihaan Networks Limited (or VNL) unveiled its
environment friendly solar-powered mobile system.
Providing mobile coverage to remote and rural parts
of the world is often hindered by high installation
and operating costs. In addition, the specialized
knowledge needed to set up and run a base station is
not widely available. As a result, few operators have gone into these communities. VNL has helped overcome
this obstacle with a low-power mobile base
station that requires little capital expense and has
almost no operating costs.

According to VNL’s founder and Chairman Rajiv
Mehrotra, the solar-powered network is designed to
help mobile operators connect the unconnected in
rural and remote areas where average revenue per
user (ARPU) is less than USD 2 dollars, and still be
financially viable. “Everyone is looking for solutions
that create zero emissions. Today, many companies
in India have designed end-to-end solar solutions
for mobile. These systems are now widely available.
Soon, India will have more solar-powered systems
than the rest of the world put together,” Mr
Mehrotra added.

Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda of Tanzania underlined
the significance of holding a round table of
government representatives and CEOs. “We feel it is
a good opportunity, because together we can try to
look at the factors that are affecting climate change,”
he said. “In developing countries, in almost all areas
where you have ICT facilities, the challenge has always
been power,” the Prime Minister added. “We
face acute shortages of power… so, invariably, all
our major companies are forced to use standby diesel
generators, which consume a lot of oil, produce
a lot of emissions, and keep on hammering away on
the environment and hampering our efforts to tackle
climate change. We must develop a good model to
help us out of this situation,” he stressed. Welcoming
the statement by Mr Conway that there are opportunities
to move ahead, Mr Pinda said “we should look
at companies not only as profit-making, but also as
key tools to fight climate change”. He also welcomed
an idea put forward by Dr Touré that e-books would
be an important way
of reducing the use
of paper. “From
primary to secondary
schools
to universities, it
is books, books,
books! By preserving
the trees we
are cutting now, it
will be part of our
contribution to a
green world,” Mr
Pinda said.

“ In developing countries,
in almost all areas where
you have ICT facilities,
the challenge has always
been power. We face acute
shortages of power… so,
invariably, all our major
companies are forced to use
standby diesel generators,
which consume a lot of oil,
produce a lot of emissions,
and keep on hammering
away on the environment and
hampering our efforts to tackle
climate change. ”

Managing e-waste

Colombia’s Minister of Information and
Communications Technology María del Rosario
Guerra de la Espriella called for better management
of e-waste, especially discarded
computers and
mobile phones. She
underlined that these
devices are increasing
in number, especially
as “we have
been promoting (and
keep promoting) the use
of personal computers in schools”. Ms Guerra de la
Espriella called for more action to deal with e-waste,
which she said had grown to 20 to 50 million tonnes
globally. Colombia has a national e-waste centre,
which has been recognized in Latin America. “But
we need to work with industry on this issue,” she
said. On the issue of cybersecurity Ms Guerra de la
Espriella called on the United Nations to be more
forceful in bringing about a safer Internet, particularly
for children and young people, who are constantly
threatened by pornography. “ITU can help us in these
two areas,” the minister concluded.

Lesotho’s Minister of Communications, Science
and Technology Mothetjoa Metsing shared the view
expressed by Colombia on disposal of e-waste, which
he stressed is becoming a real challenge. He added
that, in an effort to connect everyone, many mobile
phone companies are competing, resulting in the
proliferation of transmission towers. Mr Metsing
called for “policy intervention” which would require
that “if you have a tower for one company, there
must be agreement on co-sharing of that facility” by
other companies.

More action is needed
to deal with e-waste, which
has grown to 20 to 50 million
tonnes globally.

Human resources

Michael R. Gardner, Chairman of the United
States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI),
highlighted the importance of human resources
development, particularly in developing countries.
He said that USTTI was proud to have trained over
8000 graduates from 167 countries through publicprivate
partnerships. But he added that a major effort
should be “jump-started” over the next three to
five years “so that the poorest developing country
has parity in ICT development with other countries.”
Mr Gardner also pointed to the opportunity to harness
the energy of young people. He underlined the
need to find additional ways for the private sector
to offer training within and outside their own countries,
because “never before have the demographics
been more exciting, in terms of the young women and men who are energized to join the ICT revolution,”
he said.

Solutions for developing countries

Mozambique’s Minister of Science and Technology
Venâncio Massingue noted how his country is exposed
to the dangerous effects of climate change.
He called for cooperation to establish early warning
systems for the region to prepare for natural disasters.
He said this could be achieved, for example,
with the help of industry through the launch of low-Earth orbit satellites. Mr Massingue also welcomed
the news about the possibilities of solar energy —
but these are not yet evident in Mozambique. “When
I look around in my country, I cannot find these solar
energy solutions. The use of solar could really change
our hospitals, clinics and schools,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, though, ICT is expanding in Mozambique.
Mr Massingue spoke of a computer assembly plant
launched recently as part of a joint venture between
Sahara Computers of India and Mozambique
Information and Communication Technology (MICTI),
a semi-governmental organization.

Ghana’s Minister of Communications Haruna
Iddrisu called for a commitment to use equipment
with low energy consumption, while emphasizing
that “we must not lose sight of the electromagnetic
effects of ICT on human beings; for example mobile
phones”. Mr Iddrisu also called for a greater focus
on how operators and governments could cooperate
in using ICT to meet the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals. He stressed the need for solutions
in e-health (notably in the areas of maternal
health and child mortality) and e-education. Mr
Iddrisu then cited Ghana’s Investment Fund for
Telecommunications as an example of best practice.
He said the fund supports provision of telecommunication
facilities to underserved and unserved areas.
Licensed operators contribute 1 per cent of their net
revenues to the fund.

Fiji’s Minister of Public Enterprises, Tourism and
Communications Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum stressed that
the issue of economies of scale had to be addressed
if Pacific island States are to meet the United Nations
Millennium Development Goals. He noted that the
companies represented at the round-table meeting
operate in mass-market conditions. However, “the
population of Pacific island countries averages between
200 000 and 300 000 people per nation. So it
is an entirely different dynamic.” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum
cited a recent example in Fiji, where, he said, a leading
mobile phone manufacturer had refused to serve
the island State, due to its small size. On the issue
of climate change, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum warned that
some island States could soon disappear from the
face of the Earth due to rising sea levels. He challenged
industry leaders to bring much-needed technology
to these countries.

Speaking of the recent disaster, Samoa’s Minister
of Communications and Information Technology
Safuneitu’uga Pa’aga Neri stated that even though
her country was going through some very difficult times, recovering from the shock and damage
caused by a devastating tsunami on 29 September
2009, “I thought that I needed to be here at this time
to convey my message on the importance of having
efficient and reliable alert and warning systems in
place to help save lives, and to request our partners
for some assistance in this area”.

She stressed that “Samoa, being a small island
developing State located in the middle of the Pacific
Ocean, we truly believe in the importance of having
a good telecommunication and ICT infrastructure
and network, to assist the nation at times of natural
disasters and other emergencies”. She commented
that least developed countries, and most developing
countries, are still far behind in terms of connectivity and broadband access. “Lack of broadband infrastructure
and high connectivity costs are the main
challenges we still face. With limited resources available,
we continue to rely on our partners and assistance
to help us put in place the appropriate and relevant
infrastructure,” the minister said.

International efforts

Francis Gurry, the Director-General of the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) underlined
that the answer to climate change is, ultimately, technology
— and that ICT provide an enabling platform.
“At WIPO, we try to provide an open innovation platform,
which can signal the availability of the various
technologies that can be of assistance to meet the
challenges of climate change,” he said.

The Universal Postal Union (UPU) is also committed
to green growth, said its Director General Edouard Dayan. Worldwide, the postal sector delivers
more than 430 billion letters and six billion parcels
each year. In taking up the challenge of green
growth, businesses can rethink their logistics chains
and plan long-term measures to save energy. “We
are measuring levels of greenhouse-gas emissions, in
order to contribute to efforts to reduce them,” Mr
Dayan said. He went on to outline UPU’s plan to help
build a global physical, electronic and financial transmission
network. “This should contribute to business
development, and solve, for instance the problem of
migrant workers sending money to their families,”
Mr Dayan explained.

He added that one of the key issues was the question
of standards, whose adoption allows economies
of scale and a cut in the cost of ICT. An example is
UPU’s Global Monitoring System project that was
launched in August 2009. It involves the insertion of
radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags into letters
to measure the time taken to deliver mail between
the 21 countries participating in the project. Ten
years ago, the cost per transponder was considered
too high at USD 23. “With international standards,
we are now able to offer access to that technology
at the much more affordable price of USD 0.30,” Mr
Dayan stated.

Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Chief Executive Officer of
the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation
(CTO), stressed the crucial role of the World
Meteorological Organization (WMO) in combating
climate change. Speaking of the tsunami
that hit Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga on
29 September 2009, Mr Spio-Garbrah outlined
the importance of the Tampere Convention on
the Provision of Telecommunication Resources for
Disaster Mitigation and Relief Operations. On the
basis of this Convention, CTO, ITU and their partners
are organizing workshops on the role of ICT
in managing disasters. This is an issue that affects
all countries, Mr Spio-Garbrah stressed, adding that
“CTO is also involved in capacity building for disaster
management”.

Natural disasters have a considerable impact on
lives, livelihoods and property. Just before the opening
of ITU TELECOM WORLD 2009, the world witnessed,
once again, a series of these deadly events. In late
September 2009, typhoon Ketsana killed nearly
400 people, causing severe flooding in parts of the
Philippines, Viet Nam and Cambodia. The tsunami
in the South Pacific on 29 September resulted in
nearly 200 deaths and significant damage. In Italy,
heavy rainfall in Sicily triggered landslides that killed
25 people in early October. WMO is working with its members and international partners to integrate early
warning systems into countries’ emergency plans,
and help them learn from best practice.

Speaking at the session “GREEN@ICT: A digital
new deal”, WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud
urged business leaders to talk to each other and to
make the best possible use of scientific information.